Friday, September 28, 2012

Canadian Living magazine launches website for "busy Moms"

Canadian Living magazine has launched a new website designed to serve "busy Moms". Canadian Living Moms is positioned as an online community and information resource about family, food, health, and shopping with time-saving tips from the experts at Canadian Living.

“Canadian Living Moms is a natural extension of the Canadian Living brand,” said Susan Antonacci, Editor-In-Chief. “We want to help maximize a busy mom’s time by creating an online community where she can share stories, trusted recipes, tips and solutions with other moms and experts alike.”

Readers in Toronto are invited to meet some of the staff from Canadian Living Moms and Annabelle Waugh,Canadian Living’s Food Director at Canada’s Baking and Sweets Show including the daily Canadian Living Moms cookie decorating seminars. The show runs September 28-30, 2012 at the International Centre in Mississauga - complete details and a show schedule can be found at http://canadasbakingandsweetsshow.com/.

Douglas Thomson, editor of Canadian Home Workshop, has been elected the new president of the National Magazine Awards Foundation board of directors for a two-year term. Douglas succeeds Arjun Basu, editorial director of Spafax (enRoute), who served as president from 2010-2012 and will remain on the board. In a statement, Thomson said

“Like the Canadian magazine industry itself, the NMAF has responded to the changing media landscape with an extra push of creativity, energy and innovation. And as evidenced by the nearly 2000 entries and 200 participating magazines in the awards last year, it’s an exciting time for magazines and its an exciting time for the NMAF. I'm eager to be a part of that continued spirited evolution.”

Newly elected as a member is Matthew Fox, executive editor & digital media strategist at St. Joseph Media.

Leaving the board are Patrick Walsh, editor of Outdoor Canada and past president of the NMAF, who served 11 years; Susan Zuzinjak, president of Smitten Creative Boutique and former secretary of the NMAF, who served 9 years; and Carolyn Warren, regional manager of cultural programming and new integrated content at CBC Montreal, who served 2 years.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Quebecor Inc.has appointed Eric Morrison as senior vice-president of editorial to reorganize the company's entire English language editorial operations -- newspapers, websites and broadcast channels. Morrison is the former president of The Canadian Press.

Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Sun Media said in a company release

"This is an important step in Sun Media's drive to deliver high quality news to Canadians, both in the multimedia environment and via our established newspapers, which continue to be the foundation of our operations."

Morrison added:

"The driving principles are to be timely, accurate, in-depth and committed to delivering the information and answers Canadians want and need."

The reorganization of editorial will parallel similar changes to advertising and manufacturing. Peladeau said.

“Our objective is to create a powerful system that not only improves our editorial products but also structures our sales and operations systems to succeed in today’s media marketplace.”

The shakeup will inevitably impact magazine properties on the English side -- including those which were acquired from Osprey Media and Town Media several years ago and are under the umbrella of the Canoe Sun Media community newspaper group. These include Hamilton magazine, Kingston Life, Vines magazine, What's Up Muskoka, Niagara Magazine and Business London.

(Quebecor's TVA Publications is the largest publisher of French-language magazines in Québec, including general-interest and celebrity weeklies and monthlies.)

Glacier Media has created a new magazine on behalf of the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA). A Healthier You is a quarterly and the first issue will be inserted in the Nanaimo Daily News and distributed in public places across Vancouver Island. It's not the first such venture: Glacier did a similar pub with the Northern Health Authority. In both cases, the idea is to give information about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and how to access health and community services. Tom O'Keefe, the vice president and chief communications officer of VIHA said

"We're a huge organization that employs.18,000 people and serves 765,000 people on the Island so we decided that we need to develop ways for the public to have easier access to health information that's important to them.We want to make the information easily available and easy to understand for all Island residents."

If you're a print publisher in Ontario and you're wondering if the online publication you're developing, or thinking about, might qualify for the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, there's a webinar for that, hosted by Magazines Canada and the Ontario Media Development Corporation. It's on Wednesday, October 3, 2 - 4 p.m. Go here for more information and to register (free). http://www.omdc.on.ca/Page6007.aspx.

Fashion's 35th anniversary features top model Linda Evangelista

To mark its 35th anniversary, FASHION magazine (St. Joseph Media) is publishing a bumper November issue featuring Canadian fashion model Linda Evangelista, who has signed the cover.Not surprisingly, she is quoted in the issue preferring the pictures and spreads to the chore of undergoing an interview. She also says that many of today's photographers prefer to shoot first and refine a photo in post-production (i.e. retouching), rather than getting it right as the picture is being taken.

“I have pictures that I did with Steven Meisel that were not retouched…we held eight reflectors if we had to make the light perfect. They didn’t have to erase a shadow or bag or wrinkle or pimple.”

Though there are some significant differences in scale and other things between the Canadian and U.S. magazine business, it is nevertheless interesting to read the annual Folio: magazine editorial salary survey*. This years shows only little compensation variances but some telling items in terms of duties of top editors and their discontents.

For instance, 86 per cent of respondents said that they're working more in the online content area; workload overall for editorial has increased, probably the result of shrinking staffs combined with expanded duties such as launching new products. 72 per cent have taken on additional responsibilities, yet only 6 per cent feel they were compensated "very well" for the additional work.

Here are a few examples of data about salaries for editorial directors and editors-in-chief.

Here are the changes in mean base salary between last year and this.

*The survey was done by mail, with a sample of 2,000 and received 513 usable responses (26%); the margin of error was calculated at +/- 4.2% at the 95% confidence level.

PMB data for fall shows Reader's Digest remains tops in readership

Reader's Digest continues to be the most read magazine in Canada by a fair margin, according to the just-released Print Measurement Bureau topline data for fall 2012. However, Outdoor Canada, People, The Hockey News and Canada's History are the most efficient in delivering audience, measured in terms of reader-per-copy figures.

TC Media and the J.D. Irving-owned Brunswick News group have teamed up to offer a job search site aimed at the Quebec market called JobGo.ca. It links up TC Media's JobGo with CareerBeacon.com, Brunswick's online recruiting service which dominates in the Atlantic provinces.

"In October 2011, we extended our partnership with TC Media so they could leverage CareerBeacon's market leadership to offer employment postings in the Atlantic provinces, explains James C. Irving, Vice President, Brunswick News Inc in a release. "JobGO.ca is a step further in our collaboration and has allowed us to jointly develop a high-performance platform with a new brand image adapted to the Quebec market."

Brunswick News owns a range of daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, flyer distribution and commercial printing. It also owns the province's leading news site Telegraphjournal.com. TC Media, a division of Transcontinental Inc., is one of Canada's largest media groups, and the largest publisher of consumer magazines in the country as well as being a leader in development of digital media properties and online advertising representation.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Guardian, one of the most admired "digital first" news organizations in the world, is going into the education business, offering a masters degree in journalism with digital media starting next September in collaboration with Cardiff University. According to a story in Press Gazette, the fees would be in line with others in the UK which charge £9,000 to students resident in the European Union.

“Journalism is changing at the speed of light, said Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger. “Virtually every week we are learning new techniques and fresh truths about the way digital technologies are transforming the media.

“The Guardian’s been at the forefront of that change – now in the top three newspaper websites in the world. By partnering with a well-established and respected university department we can offer a masters degree that will produce a generation of students who are completely up to date with the skills needed to succeed in journalism today.

“Everything about the media is there to be re-imagined and reshaped. Our new masters degree in journalism with digital media will be applicable to a wide range of careers, from news to website content management and social media.”

Juice Mobile, a privately held Toronto company, has partnered with and will sell mobile advertising for St. Joseph Media and Quebecor as well as Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Corus Entertainment radio and Shaw Media's Food Network Canada.

"These premium partnerships are just a piece of the highly desirable access that advertisers simply can't get via the horizontal mobile ad networks and part of what makes JUICE stand out from other firms in Canada."

"JUICE is focused exclusively on the mobile and connected device space in Canada and has become a trusted partner. This partnership will help us better monetize our mobile traffic, create new ad units and engage new audiences across our mobile network," Perry DiIlorio, Quebecor Media Inc.'s Solutions Director.

Juice says it will soon be announcing three new products that will "reduce inefficiencies in the publishing, advertising, and ecommerce space and reinforce its leadership position in the market".

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

“We don’t want to be the Royal Navy. We want to be the pirate ship attacking the Royal Navy. I’m bearish on print, including our own. It is an inexorable trend that has to be met with some very radical changes.”

-- David G. Bradley, the owner of Atlantic Media, quoted in a story by the New York Times's David Carr on Atlantic Media's digital-only launch Quartz and his disillusionment with the economics of traditional ink-on-paper publishing.

Magazines such as The Economist, at least in the U.S., offer advertisers a guaranteed rate base for their print publication. But, according to a story in Adweek, the surging business publication claims to be the first to supply ad buyers with a guaranteed digital rate base. (Canadian publishers are not likely to follow, or not soon, since they do not usually provide a rate base guarantee to advertisers.)

The rate base of 50,000 is intended, like a print base, to increase advertisers’ confidence. It will take effect in January and appear on the newsweekly’s Consolidated Media Report, a year-old reporting tool from the Audit Bureau of Circulations that attempts to present a brand’s total footprint across print and digital platforms.

In April, The Economist reported that about 6 per cent (or 48,000) of its total circulation was digital and since then this number has topped 50,000 says David Kaye, vp of sales.

The new rate base does not include single-copy sales, nor does it include Zinio, Nook and Kindle Fire versions, which are replica editions. It does will apply to the North American non-replica, subscription sales of The Economist that are read on the iPad, iPhone, Android devices and BlackBerry Playbook.

"Having separate rate bases for print and digital is just what some media buyers want," says the Adweek article. "They don’t want to be charged for digital copies they’re not buying, and they object to the practice by some publishers of folding digital circulation into print circ in order to make their print circulation guarantee."

Monday, September 24, 2012

Finalists have been named for the 2012 Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA), which are to be presented Monday, October 22 in Toronto (doors open 6 p.m., presentation 7 p.m.). The awards are produced by Masthead Online. Guests receive a copy of the 2012 COPA Yearbook, showing finalists and winners. Tickets are $25 + HST purchased in advance, $40 + HST at the door. The event is being held at a new location, The Hoxton, 69 Bathurst Street.

"Awards are given out in three divisions — Red (consumer, custom, religious, public association); Blue (business-to-business, professional association, farm, scholarly); and Green (daily and weekly newspapers, and broadcasters)," says Masthead in a release.

"Toronto Star leads the pack in the Green Division with 14 nominations, while the CBC is not far behind with 10 nominations. In the Red Division our leaders are CanadianLiving.ca with seven nominations and Canadian Art with five. And in the Blue Division, Sparksheet comes out on top with seven nominations, while IT World Canadahas five.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

"People who love magazines on paper are not Luddites, they’re not
Neanderthals, they’re not Technophobes. As a matter of fact, they tend
to be smart, tech-savvy people who say they use all sorts of electronic
media, tablets and smartphones."

TC Media has struck a partnership agreement with New York firm Livestream giving it the exclusive rights to sell video advertising on the Livestream platform in Canada. Livestream is compatible with Android, iPad and web TV and the company has more than 540,000 unique viewers and 2.9 million total streams in Canada.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Zine Machine uses repurposed vending machines installed around Calgary by a small press called Small Ghosts and dispensing independent 'zines. For instance, one is on a...shelf...at Shelf Life Books (see above) where four quarters will get you a zine or a chapbook.(That machine is #2; #1 is in the shop, so to speak, getting new stickers while Small Ghosts looks for a new place to install it.)

It's not the first such venture we've heard of, but likely the very first in Calgary. (The Toronto Poetry Vendors dispense poetry chapbooks from their refurbished gum machines.)[Thanks to AMPA for letting us know about this quirky and interesting venture.]

Elle Québec (TC Media) credits an exclusive cover story featuring Véronique Cloutier (a popular French TV/radio personality) and Louis Morissette (actor, writer, comedian) for the magazine selling a brand record of 108,122 single copies of its August 2012 issue. According to a story on Masthead, the magazine's website ElleQuebec.com experienced a "significant increase" in visitors, with more than 450,000 page view in the day after the magazine launch.

Rogers Publishing has collaborated with media buying agency Vizeum Canada Inc.and Sears Canada to produce what it says is a first in Canada -- an interactive digital catalogue for the iPad. The LOOK! report is 32 pages of content, supplemented with interactive videos and moveable graphics, with every link to Sears.ca, through which purchases can be made directly from the site. (A 32-page oversized print version was distributed through selected copies of the Globe and Mail in the recent week.) The content includes information about fall fashions, accessories, kitchen and home decor from the Sears 2012 line. It is to run during September across eight Rogers tablet editions: FLARE (where is it already live), Maclean's, Chatelaine,Châtelaine, Today's Parent, HELLO! Canada, and LOULOU English and French. Four-page print magazine components will run as inserts.

“We saw some interesting trends between the LOOK! Report customer and iPad use in Canada and brainstormed ways Sears could capitalize on that connection,” said Micheal Bispo, Senior Vice-President, Managing Director at Vizeum Canada. “We approached Rogers Publishing with the idea because of their slate of publications and willingness to try something new.”“We’re very excited for Rogers Publishing to be the first in Canada to create an interactive tablet catalogue, and one that leverages our brands’ built-in audiences,” said Jeff Barlow, Senior Director, Innovation/Marketing Solutions at Rogers Publishing Limited. “Our goal is to use the tablet platform to inspire readers with moving elements, videos, social sharing, and the drivers to Sears e-commerce experience.”

This Sunday September 23 from 11 to 6 is the bazaar and meet-n-greet that is Word on the Street, the national book and magazine festival. In Toronto, there are literally hundreds of exhibitors, many of them indy magazines, ranged in booths around Queen's Park. In Halifax, book and magazine publishers will be showing what they make on the waterfront. In Kitchener, the exhibitors are in place around Kitchener City Hall (having outgrown downtown Victoria Park). In Saskatoon, they're downtown, in Civic Square and around City Hall. In Lethbridge, they're at the Main Library.

WOTS, as it's called, started in 1990 in Toronto and has since expanded year by year. Lethbridge and Saskatoon, for instance, started last year.

Many people enjoy the fairs for their lively crowds and events such as author readings and other entertainments. Others find it's a great place to find out about magazines they never heard of and, often, to get a great one-day-only discount on subscriptions.

To see the range of magazines participating (and these vary widely from one city to the next; not all magazines can manage to staff all cities), click around the online exhibitors' catalogue for the Toronto WOTS. You'll see familiar magazines large and small there. Here's an arbitrary sampling: Alternatives Journal, Dandyhorse, Descant, This Magazine, Taddle Creek, The Walrus, Toronto Review of Books, The New Quarterly, The Dance Current, Toronto Life, NOW magazine, WORN Fashion Journal, The Grid and Zoomer.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

"When I began in publishing, H&H [Canadian House & Home] was deeply in the red and it was depressing. A business mentor told me that a business was like a Coke bottle. You keep putting water in that bottle, drop by drop and you think it will never be full. Then one day it’s full and after that every time you add a drop it spills over or spurts. I kept visualizing that Coke bottle, trying not to lose faith. He was right. That investment was money well spent."

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Marketing magazine is imposing a "don't be a jerk" commenting policy on its website MarketingMag.ca. All comments will now be moderated.

'This means there will be some delay between when you click “Submit my comment” and your words appearing on screen. We hope this will lead to a strong community of opinionated, thoughtful, well-informed readers."

The new policy, set out by online editor Jeromy Lloyd, encourages brief, relevant and constructive comments. While the magazine, which serves the media, advertising and public relations sectors, is continuing to allow anonymous comments, "your opinion carries more weight if you’re willing to stand behind it with your real name." Blocked will be comments that are abusive, harassing, threatening, or vulgar, personal attack, advertising or spam or personal conversations better suited for private messaging

"Remember that Marketing’s readership is a diverse group including creatives, executives, clients and vendors, students and gurus, small business owners and corporate CEOs. We publish stories to suit a wide variety of experience and expertise, so if a story doesn’t suit you, it may suit someone else."

Friday, September 14, 2012

From the "Because we can" department comes the story of the magazine cover presented on bubble wrap. According to a story from design website PSFK, the latest edition of visual magazine Japan +81, made its ‘Next Creativity’ issue with customized bubble wrap.

"Spanish graphic design firm Lo Siento created the unique cover for +81 by filling individual air bubbles with colored water; artists painstakingly created the text by using a needle to inject the bubbles with the dye."

In a masterpiece of understatement, the PSFK story said they weren't sure how the cover held up in mailings!

Wave, the monthly health and wellness magazine published by the Winnipeg Health Authority was named consumer magazine of the year at the annual Maggie awards handed out by the Manitoba Magazine Publishing Association.

In the business-to-business/association category, Conservator, the magazine published by Ducks Unlimited was named best magazine, along with receiving awards for best cover and best editorial package.

Kayak history magazine for kids won for best editorial package and best regular column or department. Prairie Fire took home Maggies for poetry and short fiction. And Sandbox, now no longer publishing, won best cover and most innovative marketing initiative.

Canadian Family magazine emphasizes healthy families

Healthy families and healthy babies are the focus for the current issue of Canadian Family magazine (St. Joseph Media) out on newsstands this week. The main issue focuses on health and includes a lift-out bi-annual Baby Guide booklet. The guide provides information for the first year of a child's life and, not coincidentally, provides a tailored advertising environment for baby-specific advertisers. The main magazine contains advice from Dr Jeremy Friedman, head of paediatric medicine at Toronto’s The Hospital for Sick Children, an article about what parents need to know to raise a child with ADHD and six not-to-be-ignored symptoms that indicate a kid needs medical attention.

"I think that mass print is different than niche print. I’m in niche print. I don’t have a lot of competition in my niches. I put out a very high quality product. So, if there are people interested in subject matter, then I’m going to do okay. You can’t force things on people; it has to be what they want. Wine, cigars, whiskeys – these are things consumers are having an affair with."

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Châtelaine magazine has published an 84-page, 45,000-copy special newsstand issue on the career of the first woman to be elected premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois. The issue has photos and articles about election night, an exclusive interview, commentary by former PQ cabinet member Lise Payette who says "She [Marois] climbed Everest" and articles comparing Marois to other powerful women in the world.

(Elsewhere, the Montreal Gazette's Janet Bagnall grumbled that there was very little in Marois's election on September 4 or her program that felt like progress.

"The Parti Québécois does not come across as a party that wants to be part of the global economy or the free flow of ideas and people around the world. The PQ program in effect called for immigrants to be pushed farther to the margins of Quebec society, forced to prove fluency in French before running for public office. Members of religious minorities would be forbidden from wearing religious insignia if they wanted to work in the public sector. And only anglophones would have the right to college-level education in English.")

Yonge Street, the weekly online magazine, is looking to expand its coverage outside the city of Toronto and into York Region. It's looking for journalists to write about things in Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Markham, Stouffville, Aurora, and Georgina. Managing editor Paul Gallant told the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers list (TFEW)

"We're interested in stories about R&D, entrepreneurship, startups, social innovation, not-for-profit endeavours and public-private partnerships (particularly those aimed at inclusivity, diversity, community building, sustainability, conservation and environmentalism), interesting real estate developments and the like. Although the quantity of stuff we're looking for out of York Region is yet to be determined, this could be a regular freelance gig for the right person/people. I'm primarily looking for writers who can pitch story ideas, but if you can take photos, we are indeed going to need someone to shoot York Region features. Yes, we pay."

The Walrus foundation, publishers of The Walrus magazine, has relaunched its online presence with a new look and feel and a new address, TheWalrus.ca becomes the portal for things like articles from the magazine, but is also integrated with Walrus TV and various digital projects, podcasts etc. Walrus online editor Matthew McKinnon and web developer John Piasetzki have used a WordPress platform to create a site optimized for all devices, from smartphones to ten-inch tablets.McKonnon writes a brief introduction to the project, which he says will allow the site to overcome the limits of "our old dirty content management system" and add new features.

“The new Walrus site is a joy to read and use—it stands up next to some of the best digital magazines I've read anywhere," according to Mathew Ingram, senior writer at GigaOm and co-founder of the mesh conference in Toronto (quoted in a Walrus release).

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

University of Toronto magazine Edge, published by the U of T department of research and innovation,has been given two awards of excellence by the University and College Designers Association (UCDA). The design for both winning entries was by Toronto-based studio Fresh Art & Design. The awards were for Magazine-Cover Design, The Healthy Aging Issue and for best Tabloid. Winners were selected from more than 1,100 print and digital media entries and judges made 163 awards -- 4 Gold, 9 Silver and 150 Awards of Excellence.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Those who remember how the quarterly international affairs magazine Global Brief was almost smothered in its crib by Research in Motion mogul Jim Balsillie will want to celebrate with art director Louis Fishauf the creation of 10 issues of the beautifully illustrated magazine. Fishauf has created a portfolio of the covers and featured inside artwork he has commissioned from some of the best illustrators around; the likes of Gary Taxali, Blair Drawson, Keith Negley, Brad Yeo, Jose Ortega and Noah Woods.

"I'm quite proud of all the great art work represented in the portfolio," says Fishauf. "Despite working with a verymodest art budget, I've been able to recruit some of the finest illustrators in Canada, the US and Europe, by cashing in some of the goodwill that still lingers from my AD heyday, and offering the artists a lot of creative freedom."

Those millenials better watch it or they'll be the butt of jokes like the ones they used to hurl at baby boomers. This is demonstrated by the current campaign by Glamour magazine to try and claim the attention of the 30-something demographic. According to a story in the New York Times, Hearst Corporation is targetting what they label as "Generation Glamour", or millenials or generation Y, defined roughly as those born after 1980. The company is spending $250,000 on a campaign meant to shift the appeal of the redesigned magazine to a whole new generation of readers.

In an example of how the medium can often be the message, the campaign goes beyond traditional tactics like print ads and outdoor posters. “Generation Glamour” has its own Web site, generationglamour.com; an interactive photo wall on display in the meatpacking district of Manhattan; events like a party in Brooklyn; and a presence on social media like Instagram, Pinterest and blogs.

“This reader is out there living in social media, influencing people with her opinions,” said Andy Spade, the creative director of Partners & Spade, who co-founded the agency with Anthony Sperduti.

“She shares her likes, she’s tweeting, she’s texting,” Mr. Spade said. “So when you buy a page in Glamour, you’re exposed not just to the Glamour reader; you’re exposed to her friends.”

Friday, September 07, 2012

Canzine 2012, the largest annual zine fair and festival of independent culture, is scheduled for Sunday, October 21 in Toronto at the 918 Bathurst Arts/Culture Centre, just north of Bloor Street. It's from 1-7 p.m. and costs $5, which includes the fall issue of Broken Pencil magazine, presenters of the long-running fair.This year, in addition to a special event every hour and up to 200 exhibitors of zines, comics, books and printed ephemera, there is for the first time a symposium for indie creators on the day before, Saturday 20, from 10 to 3 p.m.about fundraising strategy, beautification of zines, 8-minute "hyperspeed talks" on practical and philosophical issue relating to indie culture. Symposium lineup.The organizers are looking for volunteers to help run the event.

"As CWF celebrates its golden anniversary and charts its course for the next 50 years, we wanted to do a special edition that didn't look back on past accomplishments, but rather looked forward and raised issues and ideas about the future," says Wade Luzny, CWF CEO and Executive Vice-President.

The special edition includes features interviews with four world-renowned conservationists—Robert Bateman, Jean Lemire, Alexandra Cousteau and Wade Davis—on their ideas for making a better world. It also features an article by award-winning journalist Wayne Grady on Canada's emerging National Conservation Plan and a story on the new Rouge National Urban Park by John Lorinc, another award-winning journalist and the former political columnist for Toronto Life magazine.

Published 6 times a year, a print sub is $29 and it is also available as a digital edition for $24.99. The magazine is available in French as Biosphère.

Tyler Olsen has been nominated as a finalist in the 26th annual Jack Webster Awards for community reporting for his story "Not Wanted" in This Magazine. Other magazine-related finalist nominees are:

Frances Bula has been nominated for best feature story -- print for the story in Vancouver Magazine called "How I Lost My Mother".

Rob Wipond for community reporting for his article "Hidden Surveillance; Privacy Commissioner Slams Provincial Surveillance Program" in Focus Magazine, Victoria; for excellence in legal journalism for his article in Focus "Kathleen's Demise: Forced Drugging of Seniors Still Increasing"; and for science, technology, health and environment for his article, also in Focus, called "Crisis Behind Closed Doors"

The Jack Webster Awards are for excellence in British Columbia journalism. Awards will be given out at a dinner on November 1 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Vancouver. Full list of nominees.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

More people in the world are reading newspapers than ever before, but research reported by TheMediaOnline shows that those papers haven't found a way to match audience growth with revenue, such as from digital platforms. An annual report from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) says that more than half the world's adult population reads a newspaer; more than 2.5 billion are in print, more than 600 million online, 500 million in both print and online and 100 million in digital form only

“The facts are hard to dismiss: newspapers are pervasive, they are part of the fabric of our societies. Our industry is stronger than many imagine,” said Larry Kilman, deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA, who presented the figures on Monday at the annual World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the global summit meetings of the world’s press.

The study found that global circulation has increased by 1.1% between 2010 and 2011. It also found that digital readers of papers spend less time and visit fewer pages than do traditional print readers; this lack of "intensity" is reflected in revenues from advertising.

The Saskatoon-based bi-weekly city magazine Planet S would like you to know that it's 10 years old, but it goes farther, reporting that the 260 issues have resulted in 80,000 pages and 160 million words. In the current issue, the paper's founder Mitch Diamantopoulos (now associate professor of journalism and chair of the University of Regina school of journalism) says

"Planet S is a different kind of paper, in many ways. It’s built on a cutting-edge business innovation — co-operative worker ownership. It also embodies an important democratic achievement — as a locally rooted venture, it’s about reclaiming media power from distant and remote media conglomerates. And, it ushered in a new, independent frontier in city journalism — bringing alternative journalism, at last, to city readers."

Planet S was created in an alliance with Regina based prairie dog, a similar worker-owned cooperative.

"This city-paper isn’t perfect, and its best work lies ahead of it. But it brings great bunches of freshly plucked fun to the Bridge City every two weeks. It put the local arts and culture scene — long hidden by syndicated Hollywood entertainment — back on the city map. It has carved out a role for itself as a watchdog, not a lap dog. It has connected with those too often left out of public affairs, like young people. And it has demonstrated the awesome power of quality journalism and media diversity to expanding the range, depth and quality of debate about our shared future. It has changed the conversation that is Saskatoon for the better."

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Monocle magazine has launched a weekly radio show on its internet radio network, Monocle 24. The Stack celebrates the best in the print media.

“We firmly believe that print media needs more air time and The Stack has been developed to explore the best in periodicals, niche journals and newspapers,” says Monocle editor in chief, Tyler Brûlé [in a release published by Press Gazette].

“After the success of our weekly magazine review in another Monocle 24 programme we decided we should spin it off into its own stand-alone format. Every week we’ll talk to people from around the world who are pushing this sector forward and challenging the media landscape”.

The show, hosted by Brûlé is scheduled to run 10 a.m. UK time and repeated on Sundays. It can be subscribed to free in an audio podcast on iTunes or via an RSS feed. The release said that the average programme downloads per month since the launch of Monocle 24 last year have been about 2 million.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

The National Magazine Awards Foundation (NMAF) has just released its 35th anniversary eBook—Best in Magazines 2007-2012—now available for free download at the Apple iTunes store.
It's a collection of more than 30 award-winning stories, photography layouts and illustrations, featuring some of the top winners from this year’s National Magazine Awards as well as the best of the best from the past five years. The project was supported by the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Visit www.magazine-awards.com/eBook for more information.

Style at Home magazine (TC Media) is launching a branded line of kitchen, bath, bedroom and home decor items in celebration of the magazine's 15th anniversary.

Some 50 items in the Style at Home Limited Edition Collectionrange in price from $34 to $150 and are for sale exclusively in the online shop at the magazine's website. These include duvet cover sets, pillows, Egyptian cotton towels, mix and match bedding, linens and ceramic kitchen accessories that function for display, entertaining or both. In a release from the magazine, editor-in-chief Erin McLaughlin says

“We purposely designed a select line of must-have decor items that I know Style at Home readers will love. Designed to be simple, chic and timeless, these are pieces that will instantly transform any room into a magazine-worthy space and will allow our readers to incorporate the Style at Home brand into their homes.”

The collection is only available at styleathome.com/shop and readers can win a contest for an entire bedroom collection; details can be found at styleathome.com/bedroom. The 15th anniversary October issue of Style at Home is on newsstands across Canada on September 10.

"Canadians should be made more aware that there is a much broader creative constituency than just those in the traditional visual and performing arts. Creativity is nurtured within many professional sectors: architects, graphic artists, fashion and industrial designers, video game creators, journalists, broadcasters, research scientists of all kinds, health-care professionals, academics, teachers – and many others – particularly among those involved in our dynamic digital technology sector."

-- from an essay in the Globe and Mail co-authored by media consultant Edgar A. Cowan, John Hobday is a former director of the Canada Council and Ian E. Wilson is former librarian and archivist of Canada.